Haitian demographics and mortality

“Something like 40 to 50 percent of the population of Port-au-Prince is kids,” he said. “Kids are much more fragile – a 30-pound block of a wall that would only seriously injure an adult will kill a child. They die much more rapidly of dehydration, of loss of blood, of shock. An infection will cause explosive diarrhea, which can kill a trapped child. Everything about this is devastatingly worse for kids than for adults.”

That's Dr. Irwin Redlener from Columbia University and the full story is here.

With Haiti’s current state* of food, water, shelter, and medical supplies and treatment, wouldn’t a “serious” injury still be a likely death sentence? I’m not contesting that these conditions are worse for children, but perhaps the difference is not so great as it might seem at first blush.

Too it’s worth remembering that the State Department plus numerous conservative and liberal aid agencies say a sizable number of children under the age of 15 in Port-au-Prince are away from their rural families in what boils down to involuntary domestic servitude to middle- and lower-class families. It’s not good.

Felix Salmon has a timely post reminding people that if they’re motivated to donate to NGOs they should donate with as few encumbrances as possible. For instance he says the Red Cross still has nearly half a billion dollars they can spend only on the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004… money that surely might be more useful to Haiti now. Similarly with Doctors Without Borders may have received enough Haiti-specific donations to fund a decade’s worth of relief. (This didn’t stop me from donating, by the way. I just didn’t encumber it.)

If one does wish to direct spending specifically to the country one might do worse than to help overstuff the budgets of reputable child-oriented NGOs with earmarked-for-Haiti funding.

Very it’s well worth recalling the fact that Express Department and also several subdued in addition to liberal aid specialists point out a sizable variety of infants younger than fifteen throughout Port-au-Prince are usually from the the farm family members in just what amounts to automatic family servitude to be able to middle- and also lower-class people. It’s not really very good.

If one can need to one on one spending exclusively on the region a person could accomplish a whole lot worse rather than assist full your costs of reputable child-oriented NGOs having earmarked-for-Haiti money.

These is not only that demography can be exciting, but also highlight how population trends and issues affects the well-being of us all, says Carl Haub, senior demographer at PRB.Fertility, mortality, and migration along with other demographic issues play a major role in determining what kind of opportunities and challenges people face in their communities and countries.